BluMaan | Fifth Sample

Once upon a time, pomade was only for the our niche community and the rest of the world was happy with their hair waxes, sprays, pre-stylers, post-stylers, post-pre-stylers, and whatever else that exists in their imagination. But recently, as led by BluMaan, a collaborative effort between Joe, myself, Steve, Nichole, and Clayton has attempted to create a pomade that traverses community boundaries. BluMaan Fifth Sample Styling Mask Pomade is the result eighteen months worth of combined effort -- formulated by O'Douds and Lockhart's, curated by Joe and myself, and manufactured by our trusted lab.

Design

As you can see above, it's a 3.7 oz. plastic jar with adhesive labels on the top and along all the sides. The top styles a tiger with a crown. Since it's customary that I work on the jar design in collaborations, I'd like to make it clear that I didn't work on the design in this project. As you can imagine, this collaboration was very unique.

Scent

The scent is a mint but without the spice or bite of what we usually associate with fresh mint. This usually reminds me of the mint I experience with shampoos and conditioners.

Consistency

The pomade is surprisingly thick. I'd like to think this is due to the relatively high wax content because unlike your average pomade, we needed to balance between our two communities which means it's not possible to simply soften it up with oils. Obviously, we would something creamy and smooth but in exchange for the styling characteristics, it's a good trade.

Application

Breaking it down and applying it to your hair is very easy. It's a very stark contrast to the product's consistency while in the jar versus in your hands. The pomade becomes a soft and dry paste in your hands -- softening and smoothening up when in your hair.

Shine

As I'll detail more later in this review, the product characteristics change as your add more into your hair -- it's not just the strength and hold that increases. By working with only a moderate amount of pomade, you can achieve your desired amount of shine. In my case, I was able to keep it at only a slight notch above neutral.

Slickness

Similar to the shine, the slickness is something we can play with by dialing in the amount of product we choose to use. In my case, I was able to get enough slickness to style a clean pomp but not enough to weigh down the hair into a greasy mess.

Strength

The strength was a main topic on our lips while we were developing this pomade. It's critical that a pomade is strong because styling a pompadour -- at least by our definitions -- requires significant holding capabilities to work with very long hair. However, for the general population, something like this can often be overkill. Something like having a nail gun to hang up Christmas stockings.

So, it was our challenge to make something balanced. Something that could work with both communities.

Control

The results of our creation was something that is masterfully easy to use, yet unique from many of the pomades we are accustomed to in our community. It is like a medium between the water-based pomades we seen from Anchors and O'Douds. At the same time, it has strong pomade characteristics as courtesy of Lockhart's.

Endurance

The pomade did surprisingly well -- especially given that it felt all nice and soft in my hair. It obviously wasn't impenetrable, but that's where the importance of restyling comes in. The fact that it doesn't dry and stays soft makes this pomade both a pleasure to have in my hair and also, work with throughout the day.

Restyling

As hinted before, the pomade stays soft which makes it easy to work with later. You'll be surprise with how much strength remains for you to work with late into the day.

Hardness

Doesn't dry to any extent.

Greasiness

Very clean. This was a very important point we had to touch on with this collab. It had to be very clean -- slick but not greasy. You'll be pleased to know this is one of the cleanest products I've ever used.

Washing

Washes out with just water.

Conclusion

It should not come as a surprised, but BluMaan Fifth Sample Styling Mask Pomade receives my seal of approval. I mean, it wouldn't have been opened up to the market if it didn't receive my thumbs up. This is the first time our two communities have came together to feed our tastes and opinions into one single product. Two similar mindsets continue what has already been done. Two distinctly different ones combined to create something new.

The Fifth Sample is something very new, and a step forward in a new direction. It's something worthwhile to try out if you're hoping for something that reminds you of a balanced water-based pomade but cleaner than any other traditional pomade.